Sunak wins post-Brexit trade vote

Despite opposition, Sunak won the vote by 515 to 29, suggesting that many in Conservative Party had abstained

- Elizabeth Piper

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak won the backing of parliament on Wednesday for a key element of a reworked post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland despite a lack of support from the province's biggest unionist party and some of his lawmakers. Sunak has tried to end years of wrangling over Brexit by revisiting one of the trickiest parts of the negotiations to ensure smooth trade to Northern Ireland without creating a hard border with Britain or with European Union-member Ireland.

He agreed with the EU to introduce the "Stormont brake", aimed at offering Northern Ireland more control over whether to accept any new EU laws, as part of the so-called Windsor Framework of measures.

But in Wednesday's vote in the lower house of parliament, those he most wanted to win over-Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Conservative eurosceptics in the European Research Group (ERG) and his two predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss-said they would rebel.

Despite the opposition, Sunak won the vote by 515 to 29, suggesting that several in his Conservative Party had abstained on the vote.

Sunak and his ministers had urged lawmakers to support the brake.